No. 14 Ohio State Upsets No. 11 Lewis, 3-1

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 14th-ranked Ohio State (12-9 overall, 8-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) men's volleyball team picked up a 3-1 (30-24, 19-30, 30-26, 30-23) upset victory at 11th-ranked Lewis (19-6, 5-2) Saturday in Neil Carey Arena. The win earns OSU a least a share of the MIVA regular season championship. Ted Schoenfeldt recorded a match-high 22 points in the match with a match-high 19 kills (.308), one ace serve and four assist blocks. Kevin Heine added 16 points for the Buckeyes with 14 kills (.476) and four assist blocks. Flyer Drew Pickering had a team-high 17 points for Lewis with 16 kills and one ace serve. Brian Musenfechter added 16 points with 14 kills and four assist blocks.

Game one opened with three lead changes and 12 ties. OSU broke a 5-5 tie with a John Klanac kill and a Steven Kehoe ace serve for a 7-5 lead. At 9-7, a Pickering kill cut the lead to one at 9-8. A Schoenfeldt kill and a Kehoe-John Albertson block took the OSU lead to three at 11-8. With Lewis trailing, 14-12, kills from Pickering and Billy Sahagian tied the game at 14. At 23-all, kills from Schoenfeldt and Robbie Klein and an ace serve from Anthony Hock opened a 26-23 Buckeye lead as Lewis called time out. An Albertson-Schoenfeldt block made the lead four for Ohio State at 27-23. An OSU error made it 27-24. Buckeye kills from Klein and Schoenfeldt gave Ohio State game point at 29-24. OSU won the game, 30-24, with an Albertson-Klein block. Ohio State hit .345 for the game to .238 for the Flyers.

Lewis opened game two with a 2-0 lead off two Ohio State errors. A Schoenfeldt kill made it 2-1. An OSU error, a kill from Pickering, a solo block from Sahagian and a Mike Iandolo-Sahagian block gave Lewis a 6-1 lead as OSU called time out. A Heine kill stopped the four-point Flyer run. Lewis expanded the lead to eight at 10-2 off two OSU errors, a Musenfechter kill and an ace serve from Pickering. With Lewis leading, 28-18, a Buckeye error gave the Flyers game point at 29-18. A Flyer error made it 29-19. Lewis won the game, 30-19, off an Ohio State error, to tie the match at one game each. The Flyers hit .345 for the game to .026 for the Buckeyes.

The Flyers, with an Alex Vigansky-Musenfechter block, took a 1-0 in game three. A Flyer error tied the game at one. At four-all, back-to-back kills from Schoenfeldt gave OSU a 6-4 lead. At 10-8, OSU, kills from Musenfechter and Nathan Klaas tied the game at 10. Tied at 13, a six-one Ohio State run opened a 19-14 Buckeye lead. The run began with a Flyer error and an Albertson kill. A Sahagian kill made it 15-14. Buckeye kills from Schoenfeldt and Albertson and two Flyer errors forced a Lewis time out at 19-14. At 25-20, an Albertson-Schoenfeldt block made it 26-20. A kill from Klaas and an OSU error cut the lead to four at 26-22. An Albertson kill and a Klein ace serve made it 28-22 as Lewis called time out. A Buckeye error made it 28-23. Ohio State reached game point at 29-23 with a Klanac kill. Lewis stopped three game points with kills from Klaas and Vigansky and a solo block from Klaas to cut the lead to three at 29-26. After an Ohio State time out, a Klanac kill ended the game at 30-26 for the Buckeyes for a 2-1 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .244 in the game to .204 for the Flyers.

Game four opened with an OSU error for a 1-0 Lewis lead. A Heine kill tied the game at one. Lewis took a 2-1 lead with a kill from Klaas. Schoenfeldt tie the game at two with a kill. The Flyers, with a Pickering kill, took a 3-2 lead. A Schoenfeldt kill tied the game at three. Buckeye kills from Klein and Klanac and a Kehoe-Albertson block opened a 6-3 Ohio State lead. A Buckeye error and a kill from Klaas made it 6-5. At 7-6, OSU, two kills from Schoenfeldt and an Albertson ace serve opened a 10-6 Buckeye lead. At 11-7, an OSU error and kills from Vigansky and Musenfechter cut the OSU lead to one at 11-10. Ohio State took a 13-10 lead with kills from Heine and Klein. A Pickering kill cut the lead to 13-11. A kill from Klein and an Albertson-Schoenfeldt block made it 15-11. Lewis was able to cut the lead to two at 18-16 with a kill from Musenfechter but Ohio State scored the next four points starting with a Heine-Klanac block. Two Flyer errors and another Heine-Klanac block made it 22-16. At 27-21, a Flyer error gave OSU a seven point lead at 28-21. Lewis, with a Musenfechter kill and an OSU error cut the lead to five at 28-23. A Flyer error set match point at 29-23. The Buckeyes closed out the game at 30-23 with a block from Kehoe and Heine to win the match, 3-1. Ohio State hit .312 in the game to .067 for Lewis.

In the match, Ohio State hit .221 to .213 for Lewis. The Buckeyes had a 61-59 margin in kills and a 58-54 advantage in assists. OSU's Kehoe had 56 assists to 43 for Iandolo. OSU had a six-to-one edge in ace serves in the match. The Flyers gave up 15 service errors to 13 for OSU. Defensively, Ohio State enjoyed a 52-43 advantage in digs. OSU's Mik Berzins posted a match-high 17 digs to tie his career high. Nick Perakes had a team-high 13 digs for the Flyers. At the net, OSU edged the Flyers in team blocks, 11.5 to 11. OSU's Albertson posted a match-high seven total blocks with a solo and six assists. Vigansky recorded a team-high five assist blocks for the Flyers.

Ohio State returns home next Friday at 7 p.m. to host IPFW (12-10, 3-3) in St. John Arena. A win over the Mastodons would give the Buckeyes the MIVA regular season championship out right, a quarterfinal bye in the MIVA Tournament and OSU would host the MIVA Tournament semifinals, May 7, and the championship, May 9.